


The Inside Edge

by eiirene



Category: Generation Kill
Genre: M/M, alternative universe, figure skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-28
Updated: 2011-04-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 18:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiirene/pseuds/eiirene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A figure skating AU. Brad and Nate are figure skaters competing at US Nationals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inside Edge

**Author's Note:**

> Many many thanks to emerald_skies for looking this over. And to jean_iris, for letting me spam her with figure skating vids and listening to me talk about skaters, because this fic probably wouldn't exist without it.  
> Contains fake LJ entries, tweets, articles etc. It's a silly fic.  
> 

**Colbert in fine form for San Jose**  
 _The defending champion impresses in early practices_  
By Evan Wright, special to theinsideedge.com

(01/18/2012) The 2011 world silver medalist will defend his national title next week in San Jose, CA. He is planning two quadruple toe loops in his free skate to Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt.

“My training has been progressing well. I'm ready to compete at the nationals,” Colbert, who turned 26 recently, said on a conference call with journalists.

But the competition is going strong – Nate Fick, 23, presented two solid programs at Skate Canada earlier this season, winning the gold medal and taking the silver at Grand Prix Final.

“Nate is a good skater,” said Colbert. “One of the best nowadays. I'm proud to be able to compete against him.”

Other top contenders include Rudy Reyes, 26, who is known for his innovative routines, and Harold Trombley, 19. They placed third and fifth respectively at the last year’s National Championships. John Christeson, 18, is the dark horse of the competition - the 2011 junior world champion makes his debut as senior this season.

  
\---

  
Walt: We’re back inside the HP Pavilion in San Jose and this is the final group warming up for the men’s short program. This is Brad Colbert, gold medalist last year, silver medalist at worlds… Oh, a nice triple axel, nice landing…

Ray: Yeah, and even with those freakishly long arms. I mean, this guy is like what, eighty feet tall?

Walt: Yes, with his height it must be hard to find the perfect balance… And here’s Rudy Reyes, we just saw him double-foot a landing, let’s hope he can pull himself together in time for the short program. Nate Fick, he’ll skate second to last, just before Colbert. He has a wonderful short program this season, choreographed by Mike Wynn.

Ray: Homes, just look at this spin. That’s amazing.

Walt: Without a snarky comment, Ray? That’s high prize, coming from you.

Ray: Yeah, yeah, can’t argue with brilliance on ice. That guy sure knows how to skate. I bet he can give Colbert a run for his money today.

Walt: It’s going to be a tough competition between the two of them, that’s for sure.

  
\---

  
 **Current location:** in my bunk  
 **Current mood:** ecstatic  
 **Entry tags:** !us nationals 2012 , bamf nate, brad is a viking god, bromance without b, fick me it’s good, he makes old ladies weak at the knee, it was pretty fucking ninja, nate is prince charming irl, rudy is a rainbow-colored unicorn, ship so hard

 _**US NATIONALS SP REPORT**   
_

__

Hi guys! So I went to San Jose with a couple of friends this week. IT WAS FABULOUS, OMG. I’m still so excited about it.

We didn’t get the full ticket package, so we only saw men’s SP and some practices. The FS is tomorrow, but I wanted to share everything today, before I forget most of it. We arrived there on Sunday, which was only practice, I was sitting in the front row across from the judges’ section. Some of the skaters were standing like ten feet from us while the others were practicing – I swear, Nate is even more gorgeous irl than in photos! He and Brad were talking (and looking ~intensely~ at each other, I swear it was seriously distracting!).

Okay, but back to the topic at hand – practice. IDK if they showed it on tv, but Pappy fell down on a jump and he injured his foot or something, he had to withdraw from the competition :( I hope he’ll be okay.

The short program was today. The skaters from the first few groups were… okay, I guess, but nothing spectacular. But the final group, it was SO exciting and I’m not even talking only about Brad and Nate. Q-Tip was skating first and he had this really funny hip-hop routine. He’s so energetic on the ice! But he fell once, unfortunately. John was next – I didn’t know him before, I think he’s fresh from juniors, but I loved his program! And, a funny story – earlier in the day when they had practice I saw him and Nate standing together and it looked like Nate was correcting his position or something. I know they work with the same coach, so they probably train together all the time, but it was really sweet.

Trombley was next and IDK, maybe it’s just me, but I really don’t dig his style. He has a really good technique, but apart from that I don’t get his programs at all. He skated in a military uniform (really? dude, it was done before, you’re not terribly original) and I think his program was supposed to be patriotic and shit, but to me it just came out boring.

And then… Rudy! I just love this guy, I can’t help it! His outfit was a sparkly onesie (and I mean it, it was shiiiiny) and the colors clashed terribly, but somehow he still made it work and I really couldn’t care less. On anybody else it would be a fashion disaster, but I guess Rudy is more fabulous than anybody else. Haters can step off to the left, ha! And he placed third, it made me so happy! I think he’s going to retire next season, so it’s really nice that he finished on the podium. I will miss watching him compete, but on the other hand maybe he will do more skating shows (and he’ll rock the sparkles!).

Nate skated next and omgggggg sjgdk’kdgkndlkbBDlD’;d,bldmsn;kgsdhgkjasfdkjhg;  
*insert more keysmashing here*  
Sorry, fangirl moment. Naaaaate! He was amazing, hands down. If you think his Grand Prix performance was good then this was just flawless. I was a bit worried when he changed coaches just before the season begun, but it seems Patterson really worked a miracle! And the choreography was brilliant and Nate was brilliant on the ice, and I really can’t get over it. His score was huge, he beat his personal best result.

Brad was skating next and he must’ve seen Nate’s score, but he didn’t look worried at all, he was cool and collected as always. He’s really graceful when he skates, he doesn’t flail or anything and a lot of tall guys do that, I really like this about his skating. His program was fantastic, he started with a perfect quad (talk about quads being overrated – it was gorgeous!), but he placed second, a few points behind Nate. He didn’t look too concerned in the kiss&cry though (one of my friends said he was all lofty and kinglike, lol). I’m soooo excited for the FS tomorrow!

  
\---

  
 **Colbert second after the short program**  
 _Colbert talks about the nationals and his skating_  
By Evan Wright, special to theinsideedge.com

  
(01/25/2012) Evan Wright: Finished the short program, how do you feel right now?

Brad Colbert: I feel fine. I made a few mistakes that I could’ve avoided, but I’m still satisfied with my performance.

EW: Are you nervous before the free skate?

BC: No. It’s no use being nervous before the competition. My short program wasn’t perfect, but we’re addressing these issues with my coach now.

EW: Wow, you’re being really cool about this. I know a lot of skaters who would be working themselves up if they were in your situation.

BC: Three points isn’t a big loss. Anything can happen tomorrow.

EW: Are you going to fight for gold? You’re the defending champion, wouldn’t you like to repeat the result from the previous year?

BC: I’m just going to skate my best.

EW: Nate Fick was in a superb form today. Do you think your best will be good enough to beat his score?

BC: If Nate wins it will be because he deserved to. Maybe none of us will win, maybe Rudy in his chicken suit will beat us both. I don’t think you can predict any of this.

EW: When you started skating you were older than most of the beginners, weren’t you?

BC: I was ten years old.

EW: Well was there any particular aspect of figure skating which caught your imagination?

BC: The skating.

EW: Some people say that you rarely show emotions in your routines. Do you think this has an impact on the judges’ scores?

BC: I don’t think my programs are devoid of emotion. There’s more to skating than simple theatrics.

EW: But don’t you want to let go from time to time? Improvise a bit?

BC: Is this a challenge?

EW: Well, if you want it to be.

  
\---

  


> @ **theinsideedge** US Nats result: 1. Fick 2. Colbert 3. Reyes 4. Christeson 5. Trombley #nc2012  
>  6 minutes ago via web
> 
> @ **theinsideedge** Men’s press conference coming up LIVE: http://bit.ly/m2nIJv #nc2012  
>  5 minutes ago via web
> 
> @ **theinsideedge** Brad Colbert retires from competition after the nationals #nc2012  
>  5 minutes ago via web  
> 
> @ **USFigureSkating** Men on the U.S. World Team are Nate Fick, Rudy Reyes, John Christeson… alternates are Evan Stafford, Harold Trombley, Tony Espera  
>  4 minutes ago via web  
> 
> @ **twirlsntwizzles** heeeee, fick for the win! #nc2012  
>  4 minutes ago via web  
> 
> @ **ninjasareawesome** brad retires? nooooo ;_____; #nc2012  
>  2 minutes ago via TweetDeck  
> 
> @ **airsupplyfan** @ninjasareawesome but he said he’ll do shows now, right? so we’ll still see him skating  
>  1 minute ago via web in reply to ninjasareawesome  
> 
> @ **ninjasareawesome** @airsupplyfan i will miss his (b)romance with nate in the backstage ;)  
>  half a minute ago via TweetDeck in reply to airsupplyfan
> 
> @ **airsupplyfan** @ninjasareawesome they can do shows together and practice a pairs routine! idk who would be the flower tho ;)  
>  less than 20 seconds ago via web in reply to ninjasareawesome

  
\---

  
Walt: And after a short break we’re back with our commentary. Next on the ice is Brad Colbert, second place. He’s skating to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata… Oh, there appears to be a problem with the music.

Ray: What, what is this? Walt, do I hear Air Supply? Oh, please, save my ears… Even my band would be better, you know, we opened up for Limp Bizkit in Kansas City once and we sucked. But then again, so did they. The only difference is that they became famous, and I became a sports commentator.

Walt: Ray.

Ray: What, a guy can even express his opinion now? What happened to the freedom of speech? It’a free counmmmmph--

Walt: It seems that Brad decided to change his exhibition number and it really looks like he’s improvising…

  
\---

  
 **Current location:** far from that river in egypt  
 **Current mood:** ecstatic  
 **Entry tags:** !us nationals 2012 , brad is a viking god, bromance without b, fick me it’s good, it was pretty fucking ninja, my ship is canon

 _**IS THIS EVEN REAL?**   
_

__

Guuuuuys, I can’t even! So I watched the US Nats exhibition and Brad changed his program - they started playing his original music at first and he skated to the board and talked to the tech guy or something, but then someone else came with a CD, so Brad skated to the middle once again and he skated to an Air Supply song.

Yes. Air Supply, you read that right.

And the best part? It was _Making Love Out Of Nothing At All_ , seriously, and when he finished he didn’t wait for the applause, but he skated to the board and NATE WAS STANDING THERE and they just looked each other in the eyes (okay, they legit eyefucked right there). And they sort of nodded to each other and Brad went back to bow down to the audience.

I can’t even, guys. My ship, it’s CANON.

**Author's Note:**

> The lj entries are modelled after posts at ontd_skating. The link in the twitter feed is real. Trombley's military uniform is not a reference to Ryan Bradley's program, which I really like.  
> When I was writing about Nate's short program, I was thinking about Adam Rippon's SP from 2009/2010 season (Jonathan Livingston Seagull). Just imagine a slightly different outfit, with a green shirt but less seaweed ;)
> 
> A quick guide to figure skating terms:  
> quad - a quadruple jump (with four full rotations in the air)  
> toe loop, axel - different types of jumps in figure skating. Wikipedia articles on both: [toe loop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toe_loop_jump), [axel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_jump)  
> kiss&cry - often referred to as k&c, the place where the competitors and their coaches wait for the scores to be announced and posted


End file.
